The minimum 248 nm, 25 ns, and 532 nm, 15 ns laser fluences required to blow off thin gold films from optical quartz have been measured as a function of film thickness. The films apparently blow off when the gold‐quartz interface reaches the normal boiling point of gold. Even though the initial reflectivities at the two wavelengths are very different, the actual laser fluences required to blow off the films are very similar. While the reflectivities above the melting point appear to be very low, as expected, large decreases in the reflectivity at 532 nm may also occur prior to film melting.